platy behavior

I've got 3 female platys and 1 male platy. The make chased the females
incessantly until recently. Now one of the females looks very pregnant
and the male spends all his time sheperding her around. He even chases
off the other 2 females at feeding time. I even saw him chase the
betta.

I assume this is normal behaviour, but none of the stuff I've read
indicated that the father was that involved after impregnation.
Interesting.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

I now have a lot of platies as I kept all the fry, (Angels now keep their
numbers reasonably stable) Males can be very troublesome, and I found as
more and more fry grew up, the males spent more time posturing and working
on their pecking order than hassling the girls too much. My original male
was a real nuisance and was removed to a 10g with 2 cories, but he never
grew very much. The males born here are much bigger and bolder. I now have
20 platies, 16 sunsets/4 redwag. One of my redwag females has just had at
least 12 fry with little black fins (second generation) who are so different
from fry where mum was pregnant from LFS. I want all the redwags so their
numbers become around the same as the sunsets as it appears to work. I have
had the opportunity to really observe their behaviour, and some do have
partners and stay together, my sunset mum is a mum to them even now, whereas
my redwag mum ignored them.When one of my girls got stuck in an ornament,
after freeing her, she spent a little time resting in a plant, and who was
with her....her partner and her mum. Between them, they chased anyone away,
and as a result, she made a complete recovery. Too much chasing in the
tank....my sunset mum cuts in, and they appear to respect her. My sunsets
are in 65g with 2 angels, and my redwags are in 25g, but will have a new
tank as the fry grow up. I think they are better in large groups. Keeping
males together did not work for me, they all had clamped fins and hid. I
just love my platies and will have around 30 to 35 soon in 2 tanks!!!
"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
I've got 3 female platys and 1 male platy. The make chased the females
incessantly until recently. Now one of the females looks very pregnant
and the male spends all his time sheperding her around. He even chases
off the other 2 females at feeding time. I even saw him chase the
betta.

I assume this is normal behaviour, but none of the stuff I've read
indicated that the father was that involved after impregnation.
Interesting.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

: ) I like Platys. I put 900 in a planted 135g species tank (fully
cycled, commercially filtered, supervised 12 hours a day). It made a
great display tank. I sold most of them in 4-5 weeks, so it didn't stay
full for very long.

I think that with a bit of luck and some observation, you can find unique
and surprising behaviour from any fish.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Mary Burns" wrote in message
...
I now have a lot of platies as I kept all the fry, (Angels now keep
their numbers reasonably stable) Males can be very troublesome, and I
found as more and more fry grew up, the males spent more time posturing
and working on their pecking order than hassling the girls too much. My
original male was a real nuisance and was removed to a 10g with 2
cories, but he never grew very much. The males born here are much bigger
and bolder. I now have 20 platies, 16 sunsets/4 redwag. One of my redwag
females has just had at least 12 fry with little black fins (second
generation) who are so different from fry where mum was pregnant from
LFS. I want all the redwags so their numbers become around the same as
the sunsets as it appears to work. I have had the opportunity to really
observe their behaviour, and some do have partners and stay together, my
sunset mum is a mum to them even now, whereas my redwag mum ignored
them.When one of my girls got stuck in an ornament, after freeing her,
she spent a little time resting in a plant, and who was with her....her
partner and her mum. Between them, they chased anyone away, and as a
result, she made a complete recovery. Too much chasing in the tank....my
sunset mum cuts in, and they appear to respect her. My sunsets are in
65g with 2 angels, and my redwags are in 25g, but will have a new tank
as the fry grow up. I think they are better in large groups. Keeping
males together did not work for me, they all had clamped fins and hid. I
just love my platies and will have around 30 to 35 soon in 2 tanks!!!
"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
I've got 3 female platys and 1 male platy. The make chased the
females
incessantly until recently. Now one of the females looks very
pregnant
and the male spends all his time sheperding her around. He even
chases
off the other 2 females at feeding time. I even saw him chase the
betta.

I assume this is normal behaviour, but none of the stuff I've read
indicated that the father was that involved after impregnation.
Interesting.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:24:33 +0000, Mary Burns wrote:

I now have a lot of platies as I kept all the fry,

(Snip)


I just bought my first Platys last week and the female just dropped (from
what I can see so far) 6 fry! Cute little things! BUT, they're in a 5
gallon so I suppose if all survive not getting eaten I'll have to move
some eventually. I just got a new 20 gal high so I guess that might be a
play tank soon....

Tom

Good luck...at least with platies you have 6/8 weeks to plan more tanks, as
they are about three quarters of an inch then, easier to move to another
tank, and colourful.
"Tom Randy" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:24:33 +0000, Mary Burns wrote:

I now have a lot of platies as I kept all the fry,

(Snip)


I just bought my first Platys last week and the female just dropped (from
what I can see so far) 6 fry! Cute little things! BUT, they're in a 5
gallon so I suppose if all survive not getting eaten I'll have to move
some eventually. I just got a new 20 gal high so I guess that might be a
play tank soon....

Tom